Lt Col Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Pio Tikoduadua (born 12 September 1966) is a

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

an politician,

cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

and Member of the

Parliament of Fiji The Parliament of the Republic of Fiji is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Fiji. It consists of 55 members elected every 4 years using open list proportional representation in one multi-member nationwide constituency. History ...

. He is the current President of the

National Federation Party The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A. D. Patel, A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party (Fiji, 1960s), National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to ...

Early life and military career

Tikoduadua was born in Namalata,

Tailevu Tailevu is one of the 14 provinces of Fiji. Overview One of the eight provinces based in Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island, Tailevu's 755 square kilometers occupy the south-eastern fringe of the island along with some central areas. At the 2017 ...

and raised by his single mother, Senoveva Ranadi. He attended primary school at Natovi and Saint Vincent College as well as St John's College in

Levuka Levuka () is a Local government in Fiji, town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau (Fiji), Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division, Fiji, Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the c ...

. He joined the

Republic of Fiji Military Forces The Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF, formerly the Royal Fiji Military Forces) is the military force of the Pacific island nation of Fiji. With a total manpower of about 4,000 active soldiers and approximately 6,000 reservists, it is one ...

cadet training school with the former RFMF Land Force Commander, Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga. He also worked as an interpreter in the local courts to gain experience. He was educated at multiple universities including

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

, the

Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies The Australian Defence College (ADC) comprises three joint education and training organisations operated by the Australian Defence Force in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: * the War College, * the Australian Defence Force Training Cent ...

in Canberra and the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

, reaching the rank of

Lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

after graduating from the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Forc ...

Command and Staff College in 2006. As a military officer, he has served in Lebanon, Egypt, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He has also held several leadership roles before becoming

Chief Of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

: Operations at the RFMF. Following the

2006 Fijian coup d'état The Fijian coup d'état of December 2006 was a coup d'état carried out by Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, against the government of President Josefa Iloilo. Iloilo was removed as president, but ...

he was one of a number of military officers appointed to senior public service positions. He was initially appointed as

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of Justice, and in 2008 as Permanent Secretary at the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

's office.

FijiFirst and Cabinet

In June 2014, Tikoduadua resigned as permanent secretary to pursue a career in politics, joining the

FijiFirst FijiFirst ( fj, iMatai ni Viti) is a liberal political party in Fiji. The party was formed in March 2014 by then Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama. Formation The party was launched on 31 March 2014 with Bainimarama beginning a nationwide tour of ...

party. He was elected in the 2014 election, in which he won 3,611 votes. He was appointed to Cabinet as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport in September 2014. On 11 May 2015 he resigned as Minister due to his failing health as he was suffering from an advanced form of cancer and wanted to spend time with his family and his people in Delasui, Tailevu. He was replaced as Minister by

Parveen Kumar Dame Parveen June Kumar, (born 1 June 1942) is a British doctor who is currently Professor of Medicine and Education at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. She worked in the NHS for over 40 years as a consultant gastroenter ...

National Federation Party

In April 2017, he returned to politics, joining the

. He expressed doubts about the actions of the military regime, including its rewriting of the constitution in 2013, and claimed that he resigned from

after MP Dr Neil Sharma was forced to resign after voting against the government on a matter of conscience. In June 2017, he was appointed the NFP President. He ran as a candidate for the NFP in the

2018 elections The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. Africa *2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018 *2018 Sierra Leonean general elect ...

and was elected, winning 2684 votes. In August 2019 Tikoduadua was assaulted by Fijian Prime Minister

Frank Bainimarama Josaia Voreqe "Frank" Bainimarama (Fijian: ʃoˈsɛia βoˈreŋɡe mbɛiniˈmarama born 27 April 1954) is a Fijian politician and former naval officer who served as the prime minister of Fiji from 2007 until 2022. A member of the FijiFirst ...

after a parliamentary debate. The assault was captured on video, and was subsequently referred to the Fijian Parliament's Privileges Committee. The committee found that there was no assault, and that the two parties should apologise to each other for verbally attacking one another in parliament. When Tikoduadua refused to do so he was suspended from Parliament for six months. A police complaint for assault resulted in no charges being laid as it was a matter for parliament. Two parliamentary staff who had videoed the assault were forced to resign. Tikoduadua returned to Parliament in March 2020. In April 2020 he was arrested for sharing a video exposing brutality by Fijian Police over Facebook. No charges were laid against him, and five police officers were later charged over the assault he exposed. In July 2021 he was one of a number of opposition MPs detained by police after criticising government moves to amend land legislation. He was re-elected in the 2022 election with 2222 votes. On 24 December 2022 he was appointed Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration in the coalition government of

Sitiveni Rabuka Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Ministe ...

. his first action as Minister was to ask Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho to resign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikoduadua, Pio Living people 1966 births Politicians from Tailevu Province Fijian Roman Catholics University of New South Wales alumni Fijian soldiers Fijian civil servants I-Taukei Fijian members of the Parliament of Fiji FijiFirst politicians Infrastructure ministers of Fiji Transport ministers of Fiji National Federation Party politicians Government ministers of Fiji